Single Arm Bench Dumbbell Wrist Curl
In SetGrip: Dumbbell Wrist Curl (Single Arm, Bench)
One dumbbell, one forearm laid across a bench: the setup isolates a single flexor group so completely that you can watch the muscle shorten as the wrist curls. Use the free hand to pin your elbow to the pad when reps get ugly. Alternating arms with no rest also turns short sets into continuous work.
How to do the Single Arm Bench Dumbbell Wrist Curl
- Kneel beside a flat bench and rest one forearm on it, palm facing up, with your hand past the edge.
- Hold a dumbbell and let your wrist bend toward the floor.
- Curl the dumbbell up as far as you can, moving only at the wrist.
- Lower slowly, finish the set, then switch arms.
Tip: Use higher reps, 15 to 25, and lower the weight through a full three-second descent.
Muscles worked
Common mistakes
- Using the whole arm — the forearms should rest on a bench or your thighs with only the hands moving; if the elbows lift, you are cheating.
- Gripping hard on the descent — let the bar roll down to the fingertips at the bottom of a wrist curl for the full range before curling back up.
- Reverse curls too heavy — the wrist extensors are small, so use about half of what you use for regular wrist curls.
- Fast, short reps — go slowly through the full range and feel the stretch at the bottom, since jerky reps with a heavy weight are how wrists get irritated.
Where it fits in a workout
Wrist curls go last in a session after all the pulling and gripping work is done. Superset regular and reverse wrist curls back to back.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
Easier and harder
When to talk to someone
- Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
- Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
- Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.
Track the Single Arm Bench Dumbbell Wrist Curl in SetGrip
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Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.